While the Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB laptop drive may not reach the dizzying heights scaled by desktop HDDs, it still is a satisfying product for those who'd like more speed but don't want to buy SSDs which offer low storage capacity currently. Its performance is comparable to that seen on Seagate and Hitachi's 7200rpm laptop HDDs but this drive offers a higher warranty period.

The usual argument against 7200rpm drives for laptops was built around increased vibration, heat and power consumption as compared to normal drives. The Hitachi TravelStar 7K500 500GB drive manages to strengthen its case by providing improved speed yet not exhibiting much of the potential negatives mentioned earlier.

As a newly introduced hard drive, the 3TB Caviar Green is at its cost zenith. That should start to dip significantly over the next few months. If you can't wait, the only thing you're out is the extra money. Added capacity and lower maintenance issues are genuine pluses.

For now, the Seagate Momentus XT is a lone duckling in a sea of options. But now that the drive has proven itself, it will be interesting to see if other drive makers decide to go the route of hybrid technology. If sheer performance is what you want, SSD remains king. But it also remains expensive, and limited in capacity. But if you want a performance boost on a budget, and you value capacity too, this second-gen hybrid drive makes a good compromise.